The present invention relates to a pepper mill that can be adjusted to have different sizes of pepper particles.
A conventional pepper mill 5 is shown in FIG. 7 which shows a bottom 51 of the pepper mill 5 and includes a board 52 on which marks 521 are printed for the user to rotate a plate 53 to choose the desired size of pepper particles. However, the plate 53 is so small that the users has to use their finger tips or even use their finger nails to rotate the plate 53. This is inconvenient and could hurt users finger nails. Besides, to touch the bottom 51 of the pepper mill 5 involve hygienic considerations. FIGS. 8 and 9 show another conventional pepper mill known to applicant and the pepper mill includes a bottle 6 with a serrated teeth 61 on a top edge thereof. A cap 64 is mounted to the top of the bottle 6 and has protrusions engaged with the serrated teeth 61. A cover 65 is connected to the cap 64 and a rod 62 extends from a bottom of the bottle 6. The rod 62 is fixedly connected to the cover 65 by engaging a rectangular flange 621 on the rod 62 with a rectangular recess 651 in an underside of the cover 65. A grinding device 63 is connected to the rod 62 and is engaged with a bottom of the bottle 6. When rotating the cover 65, the pepper in the bottle 6 is ground by the grinding device 63 and drops from the bottom of the bottle 6. There has no proper seal member in the bottom of the bottle 6 so that even the pepper mill is not in use, pepper still drops out from the bottom of the bottle 6. There has no options for the users to control the size of the pepper to be ground.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pepper mill and comprising a base having a first flange extending radially inward from an inner periphery of the base so that a fixed member is connected on the first flange. An end collar is connected to a bottom of the base and a second flange extends from a top the end collar. Serrated teeth are defined in a top edge of the second flange. A disk is rotatably mounted to the end collar and has openings defined therethrough. Protrusions extend radially outward from the disk and are movably engaged with the serrated teeth. The fixed member has a first grind surface defined in an inner periphery of the fixed member and a grinder is connected on the disk and located in the fixed member. The grinder has a second grinding surface on an outer periphery of the grinder.
A top member is mounted to a top of the base and a bottle is connected to the top member. The top member has a shaft which is securely engaged with the grinder and a spring is mounted to the shat and biased between the grinder and the top member.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a pepper grinder that has an adjustable grinding device so as to have desired size of pepper particles.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, two preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention.